Psalm 100
John 6:25-35
“The Basis of Our Thanksgiving”
By Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor
Grace UMC, Soddy Daisy, TN
www.gbgm-umc.org/grace-sdtn
The 100th Psalm was written for the people of Israel.
God had basically said to them, “When you come into the Promised Land, and settle down in your warm homes, and you have plenty to eat…
…don’t forget Me…
…I led you out of the wilderness and I brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey.”
But it doesn’t take very long to realize that the people of Israel needed a reminder…
…and I’m afraid that we need one as well.
God had us in mind, too, when this Psalm was written.
Did we notice to whom it is addressed?
The first verse says that it is addressed to “all the earth,” and the last verse says that it includes “all generations.”
The importance of thanksgiving is so deep and so wide that it applies to every person of every generation who has ever lived!
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word “Thanksgiving” as “a formal and public expression of thanks to God.”
And there is something about giving thanks together to God that breaks down barriers and brings about a unity.
Thanksgiving is something we need.
It’s something we need every day, several times a day!
Thanksgiving is a gift from God for our well-being!!!
Giving thanks to God puts everything else in a right perspective!
When we give thanks to God for everything we receive…whether it be good or bad…
…other things fall into place!
Possessions lose their luster.
Problems don’t seem so big.
We need to be intentional about giving thanks to God in all things.
But sometimes it’s hard to be thankful, especially if we have gotten in the habit of complaining.
Have you ever found it difficult to be around a complainer for too long a period of time?
Complainers are often energy zappers, and motivation killers!
The Hebrew people grumbled constantly during their forty-year wilderness sojourn after Moses led them out of Egypt.
And their constant complaining is one of the main reasons they had such an awful time getting to the Promised Land.
As a matter of fact—the complainers never did make it at all!
And there were plenty of complainers within the crowds of people who followed Jesus around as well.
In John Chapter 6 that Judy read for us earlier, Jesus has already fed the crowd, but now they have come back for more.
And instead of expressing humble gratitude for yesterday’s gift of bread and fish, they confront Jesus with an attitude of entitlement with words to this effect: “Moses gave manna to our ancestors. The least you can do is give us another meal.”
These folks are too busy making demands to realize that Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of all their needs.
Have you ever found yourself busy complaining and demanding?
Does complaining and demanding bring you joy and peace or does it disrupt your walk with God?
Jesus is the “true bread from heaven.”
The biblical antidote for complaining is giving thanks!
And to continually give thanks to God—brings us joy.
And this joy is a gift that comes to us through the work of Christ and the presence of Christ within us, even—and sometimes especially—in the face of suffering.
Joy is a profound satisfaction, grounded in the peace of God!
What feeds your soul?
It’s no secret that many of us are driven.
Human beings are driven by a soul-hunger which is almost impossible to articulate.
And the Thanksgiving holiday has, sadly for some, become a time to stuff ourselves with what we thought we wanted, while often neglecting what we need the most—Bread from Heaven!
Jesus is the Bread of Life, sent from heaven to satisfy the longings of the human soul.
Have we discovered this?
This is one of the main reasons that, here at Grace United Methodist Church, we are offering and forming Band Societies.
Within these societies or small groups we will be given the privilege of being fed by the Bread of Life in ways we never knew possible!
Within these societies we will come to grow and mature as Christians.
We will come to be less “nailed to the earth,” shall we say and instead be anchored in the love for God and neighbor.
To have a habitual love for God and neighbor…which is the one thing which can bring us complete joy…
…is, according to John Wesley, the definition of Christian Perfection!
This is not something we can do on our own.
There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian!
In John Chapter 6 the people ask Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
To which Jesus replies, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
Yes, believing in Jesus Christ is the indispensable “work” God calls for.
Remember, in Mark Chapter 9, after the Transfiguration, when Jesus, Peter, James and John come down from the mountain to find the other disciples trying to drive an evil spirit out of a young boy, “but they could not.”?
Then Jesus says, “Everything is possible for [those] who believe.”
And “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
I think there are levels of belief.
I know that I believe more, or my faith is much stronger than it was a few years ago.
But still, I must cry to God each day, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
Each day I stumble upon a part of myself that I have not yet given over to God in faith.
How about you?
Do you believe, but want to believe even more?
Jesus said, “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.”
Most of us will stuff ourselves with Turkey this coming Thursday, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But how about we begin stuffing ourselves with the Bread of Life as well and just as eagerly!!!
And we do this by reading God’s Word daily and applying it to our lives.
We do this by living what we believe.
We do this by putting into practice our love for God and neighbor.
We do this by coming together as a community of faith and worshipping God with other flawed Christians such as ourselves.
We do this by coming to Bible study, Sunday school and by becoming involved in a Band Society.
This is how we live into what we pray: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
And the changes and transformations that God makes in our lives and in the lives of those around us as a result, provide us with the basis of our Thanksgiving!
Psalm 100 is a hymn that was sung while entering the temple, and it probably was done in connection with a thanksgiving ceremony.
Let’s look at what the 100th Psalm emphasizes…
…let’s just scan the Psalm…
…in verse 1 we find the name of the Lord…
…in verse 2 we find the name of the Lord…
…in verse 3 we find the name of the Lord…
…in verse 4 we are encouraged to, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving…”
…and in verse 5 we are told why, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
This is the basis of our Thanksgiving—The Lord!!!
Alex Haley, the author of Roots had an unusual picture hanging on his office wall.
It was a picture of a turtle on top of a fence post.
When asked, “Why is that there?”…
…Alex Haley answered, “Every time I write something significant, every time I read my words and think that they are wonderful…
…and I begin to feel proud of myself…
…I look down at the turtle on top of the fence post and remember that he didn’t get there on his own.
He had help.”
How many of us have had help?
Where does this help come from?
Where would you be…where would I be without the help of the Lord?...
…without the goodness of the Lord?...
…without the faithfulness of the Lord?
I know I would be a mess!
As it is with many of you, I grew up in the MTV generation.
My friends and I used to watch the videos on MTV every chance we got, and we used to idolize the Rock Stars.
We would hang on every word they spoke or sang.
Now if kids were to follow these wonderful words of wisdom into adulthood, their lives would be a complete mess.
The best anti-drug commercial I ever saw was the one where the two guys, in their middle thirties, are in a room smoking a joint.
One of the men says to the other, “You know, when I was a kid they used to tell us that smoking pot was bad for us.
I’m here to tell you that I’ve been smoking pot for over 20 years and I haven’t changed one bit.”
Then you hear the man’s mother calling from downstairs, “Johnny, have you found a job yet?”
The two men are busy opening the window in the bedroom to get rid of the smell of the smoke as the one man shouts back down to his mother, “Not yet mom.”
Where would I be?
Where would you be without the help of the Lord?
In verse 1 of the Psalm the psalmist writes: “Shout to the Lord, all the earth.”
This is really a slice of heaven, isn’t it?
There is nothing more healthy for the soul, more cleansing for the mind, there is nothing that makes a human being more happy than utterly and completely praising the Lord!!!
In her classic autobiography The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom tells of a time when she and her sister were forced to take off all their clothes during Nazi inspections at a death camp.
Corrie stood in line feeling forsaken and defiled.
Suddenly she remembered that Jesus had hung naked on the Cross.
Struck with wonder and worship during that seemingly forsaken moment, Corrie leaned forward and whispered to her sister: “Betsie, they took His clothes too.”
Betsie gasped and said, “Oh Corrie, and I never thanked Him.”
This is what it is like to have a habitual love for God and neighbor!
Thanksgiving doesn’t require bounty—just recognition of what our Savior has done for us!
Let’s not be complainers, but thankers!
Remember who you were and what you were before God’s intervention.
Remember how it was and what future lay ahead for you had God not intervened.
Remember or imagine the kind of life you would now live had it not been for the grace of God.
Whenever we surrender our very selves in order to follow the Lord…
…the burden of this life is lifted…
…Suddenly, when we realize that God has been so good to us…
…that God loves us so much…
…we can’t keep it inside any longer…
…and so, from the depths of our being we shout our joy to the Lord!
And this…this is the basis of our Thanksgiving!
